Lantus over Humalog?
According to study published in the Lancet researchers found that patients favored Lantus from Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE:SNY) over HumaLog from Lilly (NYSE:LLY). The study of 418 patients with Type 2 diabetes found that patients on Lantus reduced A1c from 8.7% to 7%, while patients on Humalog the average decrease was from 8.7% to 6.8%. According to Reinhard Bretzel of Justus-Liebig-Universitat in Germany one of the researchers; “We conclude that (Lantus) provides a simple and effective option that is more satisfactory to patients than is (Humalog) for early initiation of insulin therapy.”
Diabetic Investor is hardly shocked by the results of the study however it’s far from the major victory Sanofi would like everyone to believe it is. First and foremost, patients in both groups were able to achieve good control using insulin. Second, patients in the Humalog group actually had slight better results. Third and most importantly Sanofi funded the study so it’s not surprising that researchers took the data and presented in a favorable light for Lantus.
The real news coming out of the study is something Diabetic Investor has been saying for sometime patients prefer therapy options that are delivered less frequently. As the researchers indicated, “Study participants taking Lantus reported greater overall treatment satisfaction, with specific improvements in convenience of treatments.” Over the 44 weeks of the study patients in the Lantus group had a total of 308 injections per participant compared to the Humalog group where the participant experienced 924 injections. Lantus is delivered once daily while Humalog was administered three times each day.
Think for a moment what this means for Amylin (NASDAQ:AMLN) and their once-a-week version of Byetta. Over this same 44 week period a patient on LAR would experience just 44 injections – 264 fewer injections than Lantus and 880 fewer injections than a Humalog user. Based on the published data for LAR, patients would not only experience fewer injections than either Lantus of Humalog, LAR patients will achieve solid control plus the added benefit of weight loss. This is the reason LAR is one of the most, if not the most, widely anticipated drugs by physicians. They understand firsthand the problem with keeping patients compliant with their therapy regimen. What’s easier than one injection per week and yes it is that simple
David Kliff
Publisher
Diabetic Investor
www.diabeticinvestor.com
www.davesrunfordiabetes.blogspot.com
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